I have risen, and I had. This past weekend I flew into Belfast International Airport thanks to EasyJet (with no thanks for Aer Lingus) and attended the British Science Fiction Society’s annual event, Eastercon held jointly at the ICC and the Hilton. For the first time in Belfast I’m given to understand.
I have attended Eastercon once before back in 2023. Eastercon 74 was in Birmingham at the Hilton near the NEC. It was a good event, and definitely a celebration of UK science fiction rather than the conventions I was used to (especially at the NEC). One of the things that sets Eastercon and Fantasycon (the British Fantasy Society’s annual event) is that it isn’t a money trap. By-and-large things don’t cost money bar the entry tickets and anything else you want to buy rather than other conventions which are designed around parting you with your well-earned pound sterling.
This is why I don’t really go to Comic-Con and will not go back to any Sar Trek convention in a hurry. I had enough of that with the scam that was Destination Star Trek 2018 which I loved mostly, but the organisers really wanted to squeeze my wallet and when they cancelled the 2022 event, they refused to offer refunds, instead offering a ticket to London Comic-Con. That took a bank chargeback to rectify.
Eastercon 76 continues the celebration and offered a lot of bang for my buck. The amount of free, and worthwhile panels to attend is always great. I’m going to do a brief, and very subjective hot/not section based on my own experience of the whole weekend not just the con.
Hot
· The Panels! Shout out to Getting into Comics, Gods and Faith in Fantasy, The BSFA lecture on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in LOTR, Crime fighting in the 21st Century and Beyond, and my own Andor Returns Panel.
· The staff were mostly friendly and helpful, both the con staff and the venue staff. Especially when I entered the green room for the first time as a panellist, I asked what to do and they were very approachable and helpful to a shy boy.
· The venue. It was nice being able to walk between the ICC and the Hilton. And I saw no issues with the spaces used to panels.
· The hybrid nature of the event meant that I can rewatch some panels and watch those ones I didn’t get a chance to see. I used this a lot when I did my BA because the Birmingham event had so many useful talks.
· I always love the camaraderie that I see between panellists. Here there was a notable talk about Gods where Adrian Tchaikovsky broke into giggles mid-discussion because of one of the other panellists.
· You always get introduced to new things. This event it was the 2000AD fanzine Sector 13 and the lovely people who make it. I bought a clutch of them home with me (comics not people) and look forward to trying my hand at writing comics again when they open for submissions.
· Getting to the con was generally a lot easier than getting to some GB cons. I detest having to change trains and the never-ending concern with UK rail about whether the train will be late or even arrive at all. The flights went fine, and the transport by bus to and from Belfast city centre were quiet and fast.
· The Alfred Street Premier Inn room. I checked in early and was given a plus room I hadn’t asked for with free unlimited Wi-Fi. Overall, it was quiet, easy to get to and comfortable room for the weekend.
· Tayto crisps.
Not
· Some minor organisational issues at the beginning meant that there were no lanyards at the start of the event. Lesson learned; I shall now bring a backup lanyard in the future just in case.
· My existing friends weren’t there this time which meant my shyness overtook me at times as I didn’t know anyone enough to feel welcome saying hello (they probably wouldn’t recognise me).
· The food/drink locations. I’m sure the organisers mentioned that there were over 900 tickets sold and so I don’t really know why the café section of the ICC was split off into half café, half art room. There were very few tables there for people to sit on and I would have felt very uncomfortable sitting alone on the round multi-seat tables. This did also mean that at times the Hilton bar was very busy, and you had to move through it when moving between buildings.
· I was shocked to see the amount of security around the city centre. I’ve never seen coffee shops with bouncers before and I’ve never experienced a supermarket that had closed off the alcohol aisle unless you got a member of staff to open it for you. That was weird.
· I didn’t get much of a chance to explore Belfast which is a pity given that it was my first visit to the island of Ireland.
· Lack of sleep meant that I had to miss some programme items as I was just so exhausted on the Friday to do anything other than attend the opening ceremony. You know the type of tired where my eye starts twitching.
· Newcastle Airport. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I can’t stand that airport. If I want a seat by the window I have to go into a pub, and due to my own issues with alcohol I hate the idea of drinking early in the morning and being surrounded by people who are. There are not many seating areas that aren’t in the way of things, and I resent paying nearly £4 for a bottle of water.
· A Monday programme. I can understand people want more con, but it does mean you’re paying for more hotel and more food, and I think even a late Sunday closing ceremony would have been better.
As I’ve mentioned I sat on my first panel at Eastercon, LARPer Life. It went ok, but I definitely felt like I was the least important one there. I agreed to go on it because I’ve been Larping for twenty-five years and I do have opinions on the hobby that are my own. I’m not sure anyone was interested in what I had to say as opposed to some of the other panellists.
The highlight of the event for me was hosting and moderating the Andor Returns panel on Sunday. This involved the writers Brian Nisbet, Caroline Mersey, Eóin Dooley, and Mike Brooks. I was a bit shy of talking to Mike as I love his work for Black Library and was reading Warboss at the time.
The panel went really well. I was worried about coming up with questions before the event but with a little help they came out well, and the panel answered them thoughtfully and with great insight.
Anyway, I’m hopefully off to Fantasycon in October so that should be a good event and if you’re going, I’ll see you there.